EU's infant mortality rates paint an unexpectedly bleak picture across bloc

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EU's infant mortality rates paint an unexpectedly bleak picture across bloc  Romania, France and Spain have some of the highest infant mortality rates in the EU between 2023 and 2024, while Latvia and Sweden have the lowest rates.  READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/06/04/eus-infant-mortality-rates-paint-an-unexpectedly-bleak-picture-across-bloc  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

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00:00How is infant mortality across the EU?

00:06The infant mortality rate has increased in at least eight EU countries last year.

00:11In 2024, both France and Romania reported infant mortality rates

00:16surpassing the EU average of 3.3 deaths per 1,000 live births from 2023.

00:23Romania experienced a significant rise in its rate,

00:26jumping from 2.1 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2023 to 6.4 in 2024.

00:33This is followed by France, which saw the rate double from 2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2023

00:40to 4.1 deaths per 1,000 live births.

00:44Since 2015, France's infant mortality rate has consistently been higher than the EU average.

00:50Boys are 1.2 times more likely than girls to die before the age of 1

00:54and twins or triplets are 5 times more at risk than any other children,

00:59according to the French Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies.

01:03Between 2023 and 2024, Portugal experienced a 20% increase in infant mortality rates,

01:10a trend that deviates from the country's overall mortality rate.

01:15The causes behind this trend are not clear,

01:17but several factors may contribute, including the increasing age of mothers.

01:222024 was also a period marked by health staff shortages

01:25and the closure of many maternity hospitals in countries like Portugal and France.

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